Week 7 Heroes and Goats

[Darkside]

I'm stoked that Chris Johnson is the starting back on this team — I'm surprised he's not more involved in the passing game; he seems to go out on a lot of patterns.

FWIW, I'm always a bigger fan of steady, grinding progress down the field than I am of high-variance, explosive plays. What I like most about Johnson early in the season is his ability to keep the offense on schedule with 4-yard runs on first down or 8 yard runs on 2nd and 10.

I think CJ should be MVP of this team so far frankly. It's his ability to grind yardage consistently every play, as you mentioned. His ability to do that changed the entire dynamic of this offense. It'll become more pronounced in the playoffs IMO. That's when teams really game plan with a lot more opponent tape and they're going to have to account for CJ.


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[BW52]

He just doesn't do anything and when he gets any sort of playing time, he gets hurt.

Weinfuss did a story yesterday about his chance now that Fells is out. how with Fells we're a much better run team and we're hoping Niklas can do the same thing while he's in. He just doesn't.

There is talent but 8 games so far in his career, 5 targets 4 catches just under 13YPC. Arians said the kid has all the talent in the world he just can't get better because he misses practice so much.

Eventually he's going to have to get healthy or he'll never stay in the NFL.

How`s Niklas going to get stats when the QB is fixated on other WRs first? So you are left with blocking and everybody should realize that not every player makes every block all the time.Niklas has played in 7 games this year with 1 start and has 1 catch.He has said his job is blocking first right now.Gresham gets the catches and Niklas gets the blocking.He is still learning a i think he is getting better as he gets healthier and more playing time.The kid is 14 games into his career and is still learning a position so have so me patience and give the kid a chance.Amazing how some guys get scapegoated while others get a free pass (Watford,Humphries)

 

[kerouac9]

How`s Niklas going to get stats when the QB is fixated on other WRs first? So you are left with blocking and everybody should realize that not every player makes every block all the time.Niklas has played in 7 games this year with 1 start and has 1 catch.He has said his job is blocking first right now.Gresham gets the catches and Niklas gets the blocking.He is still learning a i think he is getting better as he gets healthier and more playing time.The kid is 14 games into his career and is still learning a position so have so me patience and give the kid a chance.Amazing how some guys get scapegoated while others get a free pass (Watford,Humphries)

Dude is almost halfway through his rookie contract. It's even more disappointing that his fundamentals as a blocker are terrible. Watch him do it — he doesn't extend his arms. It's weird.

 

[Jetstream Green]

Dude is almost halfway through his rookie contract. It's even more disappointing that his fundamentals as a blocker are terrible. Watch him do it — he doesn't extend his arms. It's weird.

I saw Nikita on a few of the plays and he looked absolutely lost on some of the blocking assignments. One play which I recall is that he is moving right, almost hits the back, and then flies into the air trying to hit air away from the play... I'm sure he must have been on some blocks doing a standard job and I then did not notice him opposed to the other plays where one could not help but notice him all by himself lol

 

[jbeecham]

I saw Nikita on a few of the plays and he looked absolutely lost on some of the blocking assignments. One play which I recall is that he is moving right, almost hits the back, and then flies into the air trying to hit air away from the play... I'm sure he must have been on some blocks doing a standard job and I then did not notice him opposed to the other plays where one could not help but notice him all by himself lol

I know I saw him neutralize Dumervil all by himself 2-3 times. I thought that was impressive... but it's always the bad plays that end up standing out. The guy is finally healthy & getting playing time. They haven't even attempted to integrate him into the passing offense yet so I can't fault him for not having 2-3 catches per game. He probably won't get that chance until next year because Fells will be back soon (probably after the bye).

As far as "blocking air" goes... it seems like someone on the offensive line does this at least every other play.

 

[slanidrac16]

What bothered me most was the play calling in the last 3 to 4 minutes. I'm not all for running every play to burn opposing teams time outs. I am fine with risking a pass play for a first down even if it means an opposing team retains 1 time out.

However, sometimes you just have to figure out the math. The Ravens at worst case scenario should have had no more that 1:15 left on the clock and even less if we stay in bounds.

Had we lost this game it would have been because of sheer stupity.

I sure hope lessons were learned during this victory. That being said, let's enjoy 5-2 and move on.

 

[jbeecham]

They mentioned on the broadcast that if Ellington had stayed in bounds after getting the 1st down then we would've been able to run the clock down to about 40 seconds before punting. Instead we ended up giving them the ball back with almost 2 minutes... I understand trying to win the game by getting 1st downs, but you better run very high percentage plays & make smart decisions if you're going to do that. We almost Eli Manning'd that game... although at best they would've tied us to force OT.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

I think CJ should be MVP of this team so far frankly. It's his ability to grind yardage consistently every play, as you mentioned. His ability to do that changed the entire dynamic of this offense. It'll become more pronounced in the playoffs IMO. That's when teams really game plan with a lot more opponent tape and they're going to have to account for CJ.


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CJ is easily the teams offensive MVP at this point, BA's play calling is starting to worry me though, I'm somewhere near 80 to 90 percent on guessing run or pass, with a legit threat at RB finally, and what most consider the best WR group in the league, we should be demolishing teams with play action.

The mad scientists unpredictability has become pretty damn predictable.